Carlos Checa was fastest overall, with a lap time of 1:30.578, as the final World Superbike winter test ended Tuesday at Phillip Island. That time was also nearly a half second faster than the existing lap record set by Regis Laconi in 2009, and almost 1.3 sec faster than Troy Corser’s race lap record from 2007. In addition to Checa, Sylvain Guintoli, Jonathan Rea, Jakub Smrz, and Joan Lascorz completed the fastest five. Rea’s time from Tuesday morning kept him third fastest despite a crash at Turn 3 in the afternoon that resulted in an injured hand. No word is available yet on the specifics of his injury.

However, simple fastest lap times do not always give the full story of a test session. One way to see how a rider might do over the entire season is to see how consistent he is through a test. As first introduced after the Infront Motor Sports test at Portimao, here at A&R we use the overall rankings over the course of the sessions to show which riders were most consistently quicker than their competitors.

Session Rankings for February 21-22 Test at Phillip Island:

Rider

Mon #1

Mon #2

Tues #1

Tues #2

Tier 1

Carlos Checa

6th

1st

1st

1st

Sylvain Guintoli

1st

2nd

2nd

2nd

Jakub Smrz

3rd

3rd

4th

4th

Jonathan Rea

2nd

8th

3rd

3rd

Tier 2

Michel Fabrizio

4th

5th

6th

7th

Joan Lascorz

5th

11th

5th

5th

Marco Melandri

7th

7th

7th

8th

Max Biaggi

no time

4th

11th

6th

Tier 3

Tom Sykes

9th

6th

9th

10th

Eugene Laverty

12th

10th

8th

9th

Leon Haslam

8th

9th

14th

14th

Noriyuki Haga

15th

16th

10th

11th

Josh Waters

11th

12th

12th

12th

Ruben Xaus

13th

13th

13th

13th

Tier 4

Troy Corser

10th

14th

15th

16th

James Toseland

14th

17th

16th

15th

Maxime Berger

17th

18th

18th

20th

Ayrton Badovini

18th

20th

17th

17th

Tier 5

Roberto Rolfo

16th

21st

19th

21st

Bryan Staring

19th

19th

20th

18th

Mark Aitchison

21st

22nd

21st

22nd

Akira Yanagawa

20th

23rd

22nd

19th

Leon Camier

no time

15th

no time

no time

Despite the different angle of rankings, it is still difficult to tell just how the season will shake out. With just days before the first round, again at Phillip Island, one thing is abundantly clear: even without factory support the Ducatis are quick and Checa is ready to lead the way. Racing begins in earnest this weekend.